Sheet-metal receptacle forming machine



April 1, 1952 R. M. KOCH SHEET METAL RECEPTACLE FORMING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 25, 1948 Avvswron Rome/c KOCH EMU; Vjm

A ril 1, 1952 R. M. KOCH r 2,591,439

SHEET METAL RECEPTACLE FORMING MACHINE Filed June '23, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 O F u 55 Patented Apr. 1, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHEET-METAL RECEPTACLE FORMING MACHINE Roderic M. Koch, Evansville, Ind.

Application June 23, 1948, Serial No. 34,707

Claims. 1

The present invention relates generally to power operated sheet metal bending machines or pressesof the reciprocating type adapted to simultaneously fold and corrugate the integral wall of a sheet metal receptacle, and more specifically to an improved sheet-metal receptacleforming machine which while adapted for various purposes and uses, is especially designed for use in the manufacture of floral baskets or containers of the accordion pleated type. In carrying out my invention I employ a power operated reciprocable bendin unit combined with an axially a'lined' power operated former unit or shaping unit, which units include multiple bending blades and shaping arms having a staggered arrangement by means of which a basket is fashioned with a flat bottom and integral corrugated walls.

The primary purpose of the invention is the provision of a machine of this type that is power operated and manually controlled, and which includes a minimum number of parts that may with facility be manufactured at low cost of production, and the parts assembled. with convenience, to assure an appliance. by means of which receptacles of various shapes and sizes may be produced with a minimum expenditure of time and labor.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will hereinafter be described and more particularly set forth, in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a complete example of a physical embodiment of my invention in an upright machine in which the parts are combined and arranged in accord with one mode I have devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention. I

It will, however, be understood that changes and alterations are contemplated and may be made in these exemplifying drawings and mechanical structures, within the scope of my claims, without departing from the principles of the invention.

Figure. 1 is a conventionalized view, with parts in section and in elevation, showing the invention embodied in an upright press or machine.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view at line 2-2 of Fig. l; and Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional View at line 3-3 of Figure .1; and Figure 4 is also a horizontal sectional view as at line 4-4 of Fig. l.

I Figure 5 is a perspective view of a sheet metal disk; and Figure 6 is a perspective view of the finished body portionof a floral basket or receptacle pressed or bent by the machine.

Figure 7 is an. enlarged perspective view showing the inverted, fluted or pleated body of the floral basket mounted on the shaper unit, and with the blades of the bender unit retracted therefrom.

Figures 8 and 9 are detail vertical sectional Views of the bender unit, with the multi-blades in difierent positions.

Figure 10 is a top plan view of the shaper and lower die; and Figure 11 is a sectional view at line lI-ll of Fig. 10.

Figure 12 is a top plan view of the actuating head for the arms of the shaper; and Figure 13 is a sectional view at line l'3--I 3.

Figure 14 is a plan view of the stationary guide block for the elevating mechanism of the shaper.

In Figs. 5, 6, and 7, a sheet metal disk A is shown which is pressed or bent into the corrugated body B of a floral basket having a flat bottom and flaring accordion pleated integral Wall, and as shown in Fig. 7 the body is manufactured in the machine in inverted position.

In the general assembly view of Fig. l the relation of parts is illustrated, and a conventional frame for an upright machine or press includes the four corner posts as I made up of solid bars and tubular casings or pipes, which are united and braced by a rectangular base frame 2 that may be located at a floor level, a top frame 3, an intermediate frame 4, and a sub-frame 5 below the floor level.

The machine may be operated by suitable motive fluid pressure, as for instance pneumatic motors, one of which as 6 is located below the base for reciprocating the shaper unit or former unit, and the overhead motor I controls the reciprocation of the bender unit.

The shaper unit and the bender unit are axially alined and the pneumatic motors 6 and l are manually controlled by valve devices 8 and 9 to which compressed air is supplied from a suitable source through pipe lfl. The valve device 8 controls pressure to the opposite sides of a piston H in cylinder 6, through pipes l2 and I3; and the valve device 9 controls the motive fluid pressure at opposite sides of a piston M in cylinder 1, through pipes l5 and I6.

The shaper unit, which is elevated on its working stroke and reciprocated under pressure in the motor or cylinder 6, includes a piston rod ll that is slidab'le in hearing I 8 of the floor frame 2, and the upper free end of the rod is equipped with a fixed head or circular disk l9 from which are projected four push rods as 26. These, push rods pass through an opening in the frame plate 4 and slide through four spaced bearing bores 26a in a flanged bearing block 2| that is bolted to the frame plate 4.

The upper ends of the push rods are fixed in sockets 22 in the lower face of a spreader block or actuating head 23 that is provided with a central bore in which a cylindrical liner or bushing 24 is fixed. This actuating head is slidably mounted upon a central upright guide bar 25 V fitted at its lower end in bore 26 of the bearing block 2|, and a frusto-conical or tapered shaperhead 21, having a lower socket 283, is mounted upon the upper end of the bar 25 and fixed thereon by set screw 29 in adjusted position.

The upper face of the shaper is equipped with an interchangeable face plate 30 that is attached as by screws 3| to form alower die or stationary base upon which the sheet metal disk A is manually placed preparatory to a bending operation of the machine, and the face plate has a lower centering lug 32 fitted in a socket of the'shaper, to facilitate accurate adjustment of parts.

The die 30 is fashioned with a series of circumferentially spaced slots or peripheral notches 33, and the shaper is provided with a head 34 having complementary slots or notches 35 radiating outwardly from the axial center of the plate and shaper. The head of the shaper and the die, on adjoining faces, arereach provided withannular grooves that form a seat in which a hinge ring 36 is rigidly clamped by the screws 3| 5 and this hinge ring or pivotal support suspends multiple shaper arms, ribs, or Spreaders 31 hav-- ing sharpened edges 38, against which the unclamped or free part of the disk A is pressed to simultaneously form an integral wall, and corrugations in the wall, of the inverted body of the floral basket, as indicated in Fig. '7.

The radially arranged shaper arms may be spread to initial horizontalposition, as indicated in Fig. 11, with their sharpened edges alined with the top face of the lower die 36, as a support for the sheet metal disk A, through the use of spreader links 39 that are hinged at 40 to the shaper arms, and the lower ends of these links are anchored on an annular hinge bar 4| that is clamped in an annular seat between a cap plate 42 and the upper face of the actuating head or spreader 23. The cap plate which has a central bore 43 for the bar or rod 25, is secured in place by screws 44, and the plate and actuating head are fashioned with radial edge notches 45 and 46 respectively to accommodate the pivoted or hinged links 39.

After the shaper unit has been elevated, the arms 31 spread to horizontal position, and the metal disk A has been placed upon the shaper as a base or support, a set of bender blades 48, having sharpened edges 49, are positioned upon the upper face of the sheet metal disk or plate, in position as indicated in Fig. 8.

These bender blades are staggered or spaced apartso that they are alined with the spaces between the shaper arms, and of course the shaper arms are thus alined with the spaces between the bender blades. By this arrangement,

the blades and the arms co-act to fold or bend H down the peripheral part of the sheet metal disk, thus forming an integral wall with sharp accordion pleats, and providing a flat central bottom portion for the inverted basket-body, as B.

The multiplev bender blades48 are suspended from and carried by a tubular or hollow reciprocable bender head 50 having a flared flange 5|, and the bender 50 is fixed, as by set screw or bolt 52 on the lower end of a tubular rod 53 of the piston I4 in the pneumatic motor or cylinder 1, and the tubular rod is instrumental in venting the interior of hollow or tubular bender.

The reciprocable and tubular piston rod passes through an exterior slide bearing 54 at the upper head of the cylinder 1, and the free'end of the rod is provided with a cross arm 55 having slide bearings or sleeves 56 adapted to slide upon a pair of guide posts 51 rigidly fixed on and projecting above the upper head of the cylinder I, at 58.

In its vertical reciprocating movements the bender is guided and stabilized by means of a pair of diagonally arranged flanged and radial arms 59 that are bolted at their inner ends to the bender, and provided with slide bearings 60 on their outer ends that co-act with two of the spaced posts I, I; a suitable pad P being provided beneath the top horizontal frame member 3 as a cushion for the bender.

Within the vented interior chamber of the hollow bender a solid cylindrical ram or die BI is loosely mounted and carried, and the ram or die is fashioned with an enlarged integral flange 62, to which is attached a die-plate 63 that is employed to clamp a hingering 64 on the head of the die, which ring forms the pivotal support for the inner ends of the bending blades 48.

The upper die of the bender co-acts with the lower die 30 of the shaper in firmly clamping the flat central part of the sheet metal disk to form the bottom of the floral basket, and the die plate 63 is fixed by screws 65 to the die or ram as seen in Figs. 8 and 9.

The lower face of the flange 62 is fashioned with radial slots 66 for the hinged ends of the blades 48, and these slots form shoulders against which the blades rest in horizontal position; and the die plate 63 is also slotted as at 61 to accommodate the hinged blades.

Each of the bender blades is actuated by a forked link as 68 pivoted thereto at 69, and the links are hinged upon an annular hinge ring 16 that is clamped in a seat formed by grooves in the face of the flange 5| and grooves in the upper faces of multiple clamp blocks H that are spaced circumferentially around the bender and secured thereto by screws 12. V

The annular face of the flange 5| is fashioned with peripheral slots or notches 13, and the blocks ll forming an interrupted attaching ring for the hinge ring, provide complementary notches for the hinged links.

In the process of manufacture the reciprocating actuating head 23 is elevated by power from the motor 6 to outspread the arms 31 to horizontal position to receive and support the sheet metal disk A, which is placed thereon. Then the V bender is lowered to set its die upon the upper face of the central part of the disk with the bender blades outspread over the peripheral part of the 7 disk. With the center of the disk thus firmly clamped between the two dies, the bender is lowered, its arms swing downwardly and inwardly to fold the unclamped part of the disk against the outspread shaper arms; and the shaper is simultaneously depressed to swing its arms in coaction with the blades, until the arms resist the folding movement of the blades. This resistance of the shaper arms permits the bender blades to press the sheet metal in between the arms to form the corrugations or sharp accordion pleats in the folded wall of the inverted basket. The height of the wall may be determined by the size of the sheet metal disk, and the widths of the pleats or flutes may be determined by the penetration of the blades into the spaces between the arms.

While the basket shown iscircular or elliptical, it will be understood that the blades and the arms may be arranged to form other shapes, and the shape of the tapered shaper here illustrated may be varied to change the flare of the corrugated wall of the basket.

The bending or folding operations may with facility be accomplished by a single operator on the two pneumatic controls, and after one operation the bender unit and the shaper unit may quickly be retracted to permit removal of a finished product and successive feed of other disks to the dies.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a hollow reciprocable bender forming a vented fluid pressure chamber and having an enlarged head and multiple circumferentially spaced links pivotally suspended therefrom, of a central die having an enlarged head and reciprocable in the hollow pressure chamber of the bender, a pivot ring mounted in a groove of the die head, a die plate having a clamp groove engaging the ring and means for attaching the plate to the die head, said die head and die plate forming an annular series of slots, multiple arms pivoted on the ring in said slots, and pivotal connections between the links and the blades.

2. In the power operated machine described, the combination with a supporting frame having a fixed guide block, a pair of push rods slidable in spaced bores of the block and means for reciprocating the push bars, a central shaper bar mounted in a bore of the block, and a head on the shaper bar, of an actuating head located above and slidably mounted on the shaper bar, said actuating head ibeing fixed to and movable with the push bars in spaced relation to the shaper head, and multiple pairs of toggle links suspended from the shaper head with their lower ends pivotally mounted upon the actuating head.

3. In the shaping mechanism described, the combination with a fixed guide block, a shaper 6 bar mounted in the block, a spaced shaper-head on the bar, an actuating head located above the block and slidable on the shaper bar, and means coacting with the block for reciprocating the actuating head, of a hinge ring mounted on each head and separate fastening means for retaining the rings on the heads, a series of radially arranged shaper arms pivoted on the ring of the shaper head and movable in grooves of said head, a complementary series of links pivoted on the ring of the actuating head and movable in grooves of said head, and pivotal connections be tween the adjoining ends of said arms and links.

4. In a power operated machine for forming a sheet metal basket with an integral corrugated wall, the combination with a shaper, of a tubular bender having a vented fluid pressure chamber and an annular head, a central die having an enlarged circular head and reciprocable in the chamber, multiple circumferentially spaced radial blades pivoted at their inner ends to the circular head, and multiple links pivotally suspending the free parts of the blades from the annular head.

5. The combination with a hollow reciprocable bender forming a vented fluid pressure chamber and having an annular head, and a die having a circular head and reciprocable in the chamber, of an annular pivot-bar mounted in a groove of the annular head, a peripheral series of circumferentially spaced blocks having clamping grooves for said bar and attached to the annular head, multiple radial blades pivotally mounted at their in-- ner ends on the circular head, multiple links pivotally suspended on the bar within grooves of the annular head and said blocks, and pivotal connections between said links and the free parts of the blades.

RODERIC M. KOCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 464,628 Anderson Dec. 8, 1891 563,199 Moritz June 20, 1896 1,741,884 Schmidt Dec. 31, 1929 1,756,478 Batdorf Apr. 29, 1934 

